Golasgil

The lord of the Anfalas or Langstrand, a pastoral fief on the far western shores of Gondor, at the time of the War of the Ring. He rode to the defence of Minas Tirith with some few of his household and many Men of the Anfalas. Apart from Golasgil's own household, his followers were villagers gathered into their lord's following, and poorly equipped.

Of Golasgil's fate we have no certain knowledge, but the fact that he is not listed among those who fell in the Battle of the Pelennor suggests that he survived that battle, and perhaps stood with the Captains of the West before the Black Gate before returning to his rustic lands in the west of Gondor.

Notes

1

By no means all the inhabitants of Gondor were descended from the Dúnedain, and as an inhabitant of that land's most remote province, we cannot assume that Golasgil belonged that people. However, given his status as a lord, and the fact that his name probably contains at least some Elvish elements, on balance he probably did belong to the people of the Dúnedain.

2

For Golasgil to hold a lordship in the Anfalas, there must presumably have been some kind of township or fortification there, but no such settlement is shown on any map. The only construction anywhere close to this region was Edhellond, the old haven of the Elves at the mouth of Ringló. A place like this, with access to fresh water and relatively close to the more populated areas of Gondor to the east, would seem to be an ideal location for Golasgil and his people to settle. So, conceivably, the Men of the Anfalas had their chief town somewhere near old Edhellond. There is, however, no direct evidence of this, and Golasgil's seat might in principle have stood anywhere in the wide lands between the rivers Ringló and Lefnui.

3

Golasgil's name is never explained, and indeed it is conceivable that it is not Elvish in form at all, but rather represents the linguistic traditions of the older inhabitants of the land settled by the Gondorians. If we treat it as an Elvish name, there are various ways of interpreting its constituent elements: gol is a possible form of 'light'; las means 'leaf'; and gil is probably 'star'. It's hard, however, to assemble these elements into a very meaningful name. 'Starlight' works as one possibility, but it leaves certain internal elements unaccounted for.

In principle, the prefix go- can be used in Elvish as a patronymic, so the name might also be read as meaning 'son of Lasgil' (where Lasgil would mean 'leaf-star'). This patronymic construction is very rare (indeed it is not used at all in the canonical works) so the likelihood of this particular explanation would seem to be relatively low.